Become a Recognized Firewise Community in New Jersey

Towns, municipalities and other residentially structured communities are eligible to be recognized as a Firewise Community/USA. Through participation and meeting of several basic criteria, communities that participate in wildfire mitigation activities, planning, preparedness, awareness, outreach and education can receive designation as a Firewise Community/USA.

The Firewise Communities program is designed to facilitate and provide information and resources to towns, municipalities, developments and communities that need to adopt long-term, proactive solutions to protect homes and natural resources from the risk of wildland fire.

New Jersey Forest Fire service assists communities to become nationally recognized in the Firewise Community/USA program. The Forest Fire service will help interested communities:

• Conduct hazard assessments for structures in the Wildland Urban Interface
• Design Community Wildfire Preparedness Plans
• Identify risks to wildfire
• Plot strategy for wildfire hazard mitigation

In addition to working closely with communities to achieve these few simple steps to enrollment, the New Jersey Forest Fire Service will also assist communities in obtaining grant funding to implement firewise concepts, and wildfire prevention and education events. Agencies and organizations responsible for wildland fire management agree: we can reduce the loss of lives, property, and damage to natural resources from wildfire, by building and maintaining communities that are compatible with their natural surroundings.

There is no single solution, however, to achieving this common goal. The Firewise Communities concept is successful because it emphasizes local decision-making and encourages community representatives, including homeowners to develop their own plan for achieving a set of common goals. In general, the most successful wildfire mitigation programs are driven by the individuals that will benefit most from their efforts; the residents.

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